Olfactory stimuli affect us in different ways. For example, some types of scent refresh our feelings while others nauseate us. To take advantage of a pleasant scent, products such as perfume and air refreshers are readily available. On the other hand, to control or contain an unpleasant scent, an odor eliminating agent such as ammonia is used.
In order to enrich our daily lives, prior art in scent generation includes a scent generation device such as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Publication Hei 8-336576 converts scent causing particles into a gaseous state from its original liquid state and releases them in the air. It has been also known that a generated scent is released via an air conditioning system or into air ducts for an efficient circulation.
The idea of using a scent-causing agent in combination with office equipment has been also disclosed in prior art. For example, Japanese Patent Laid Publication Hei 9-70426 discloses the use of a scent-causing agent in combination with a computer display unit. The relevant prior art also combined the scent generation with printing devices as well as facsimile machines. In other words, the scent generation is combined with the image generation or image output. In one facsimile application, a predetermined scent is generated during the image formation upon a receiving facsimile transmission so as to notify a user as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Application 64-75284. The heat-sensitive scent causing agent is initially provided on an image carrying medium, and the scent causing agent is released during the thermal image formation.
Another example of prior art scent generation is related to the use of a predetermined scent and a corresponding predetermined color in an output image. For example, Japanese Patent Laid Publication Hei 1-267087 discloses a thermally sensitive image carrying medium which contains predetermined scent causing agents placed in a certain colorant layer. During an image formation process, when a certain colorant is used, the associated scent causing agents are released into air. Although it is suggested in the disclosure that different types of scent causing agents is mixed, the mixture is fixedly mixed in a certain colorant layer in the image carrying medium.
In the relevant prior art of thermal transfer image formation, scent causing agents are initially stored in colorant. For example, Japanese Patent Laid Publication Hei 9-30127 discloses that scent causing agents are encapsulated by a heat resistant shield and placed in a predetermined ink layer. During the thermal colorant transfer, a colorant and the associated encapsulated scent causing agents are transferred onto an image carrying medium while the scent causing agents are contained in the heat shielding capsules. In other words, the scent is not released during the image formation, but the scent is later activated by pressing the transferred colorant surface. The pressure breaks the capsule and releases the scent causing agents contained therein.
The above described relevant prior art is generally directed to generating a predetermined and fixed scent. The current invention is generally directed at scent generation on the fly so as to allow a more flexible scent generation process.